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The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs

May 16, 2021

Dear John,

Read on for highlights from Health Affairs this week.

Disparities In COVID-19 Cases, Telehealth & More

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In a paper released ahead of print, Marissa Reitsma and coauthors
analyzed COVID-19 disparities

in terms of structural risk exposures, testing, test positivity, and
COVID-19 cases in California, the state with the most COVID-19 deaths in
the country.

They found that, from March 22 through October 3, 2020, among cases with
known race/ethnicity, 70 percent were among Latino people, compared with
their 39.1 percent state population share. Further, death rates during
that time for both Latino and Black populations were more than 1.5 times
higher than those in the state's White population.

Several May papers discuss private equity firms' practices in health
care.

In the first, Anaeze Offodile II and coauthors provide an overview of
private equity acquisitions of acute care hospitals
.
They found that acquisitions occur predominantly in the Mid-Atlantic and
Southern US and are more likely to be for-profit hospitals in urban
areas. They also found that on average private equity-acquired
hospitals had higher operating margins than non-acquired hospitals.

Robert Tyler Braun and colleagues estimated the prevalence of
acquisitions and their impact on dermatology prices, spending,
utilization, and volume of patients
.
They determined that private equity acquisition leads to dermatologists
seeing up to 17 percent more patients after two years and charging more
for routine visits.

In another new paper, Ameet Sarpatwari and colleagues examine pricing
trends for three classes of widely used diabetes drugs
.
They report that monthly list prices of GLP1 agonists, DPP4 inhibitors,
and SGLT2 inhibitors on average increased approximately 10 percent
annually from market entry through 2017.

Aayan Patel and coauthors investigate recent trends in generic drug
prices
.
They found that from 2014-17, one in five generic drugs had a price
spike initiated by at least one manufacturer, leading to an estimated
$1.5 billion in excess Medicaid spending during 2014-16.

Children's Mercy hospital in Kansas City has played a pioneering role
in pursuing patient- and family-centered care. As part of Health
Affairs' Leading To Health
series, the May 2021
issue features an article by David Tuller about Children's Mercy's
efforts to involve families in their system
.

This week on Health Affairs Blog we featured a special collection of new
pieces identifying key considerations for charting telehealth's
course.

Francis Crosson proposes that now is the time to examine innovative
payment and information-sharing models
.

Chad Ellimoottil draws on emerging evidence to counter arguments against
continuing payment parity for telehealth

after the pandemic ends.

Kyle Thomson draws attention to an under-the-radar statutory provision
in the Social Security Act that will result in most Medicare
beneficiaries losing access to telehealth

at the end of the current public health emergency-unless Congress
acts.

Joseph Liss, David Peloquin, and Barbara Bierer call for a new licensure
system, based on nursing's successful model, that would enable
physicians to practice across state borders
-enabling
the replacement of in-person visits with telehealth.

Amol Navathe and Joshua Liao encourage policy makers to view telehealth
as an opportunity to fundamentally rethink care delivery

under alternative payment models.

Featured This Week

Racial/Ethnic Disparities In COVID-19 Exposure Risk, Testing, And Cases
At The Subcounty Level In California

Marissa B. Reitsma et al.

Private Equity Investments In Health Care: An Overview Of Hospital And
Health System Leveraged Buyouts, 2003-17

Anaeze C. Offodile II et al.

Private Equity In Dermatology: Effect On Price, Utilization, And
Spending

Robert Tyler Braun et al.

Podcast: Breaking Down How Pharmacy Deserts And Access Relate To Health
Equity

Alan Weil and Jenny Guadamuz

Diabetes Drugs: List Price Increases Were Not Always Reflected In Net
Price; Impact Of Brand Competition Unclear

Ameet Sarpatwari et al.

Frequency Of Generic Drug Price Spikes And Impact On Medicaid Spending

Aayan N. Patel et al.

Gaining Family Input At A Children's Medical Center

David Tuller

Podcast: Three Unanswered Questions For Telehealth's Future

Rob Lott and Chris Fleming

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Breaking Down How Pharmacy Deserts And Access Relate To Health Equity

**** Listen to

**Health Affairs** Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Jenny Guadamuz
from the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy on
pharmacy access and closures.

Listen Here

On The Blog This Week

As States Continue To Experiment In Medicaid, Look To Section 1115
Waiver Evaluations To Understand What Works

Lauren Gerlach and Mona N. Shah

Re-Imagining The Asylum System: Recommendations From Asylum Medicine
Experts

Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Policy Working Group

COVID-19 Data On Trans And Gender-Expansive People, Stat!

Meg Perret et al.

The Coming Conflict Over Tele-Visits: The Need For Innovation In Payment
And Information Sharing

Francis J. Crosson

Understanding The Case For Telehealth Payment Parity

Chad Ellimoottil

Congress: Act Now To Ensure Telehealth Access For Medicare Beneficiaries

Kyle Thomson

Mutual Recognition Of Physician Licensure By States Would Provide For
Better Patient Care

Joseph M. Liss et al.

How Telehealth Can Enable New Care Management Strategies In Alternative
Payment Models

Amol S. Navathe and Joshua M. Liao

Modernizing Medicare Coverage Pathways For Prescription Digital
Therapeutics

Nisarg Patel

Payment Reform For Nursing To Advance Health Equity: The Future Of
Nursing 2020-2030 NAM Report

Marshall H. Chin and Maureen Bisognano

Reauthorize The Violence Against Women Act To Improve Health Care For
Survivors Of Relationship And Sexual Violence

Zoe Matticks and Allie Liss

Medicare For All? Start At The Beginning: Cover All Births And Modernize
Maternity Care

Amy Romano and J.D. Kleinke

It Was The Government That Produced COVID-19 Vaccine Success

Richard G. Frank et al.

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Three Unanswered Questions For Telehealth's Future

Listen to Health Affairs' Rob Lott and Chris Fleming discuss the three
major unanswered questions about the future of telehealth.

Listen Here

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